Attitude

Sometimes I prefer the company of unchurched people. Last weekend, my wife and I were vacationing in Dallas and spent some time in the hot tub at the hotel we were staying at. In the hot tub were two other couples. In conversations with them, I realized they didn't attend church and probably had little or no relationship with God. However, they were very nice, great to talk to, and seemed to be enjoying themselves. They just seemed to love life and had a great attitude about things.
Contrast this with most of what I hear out of Christian acquaintances. Much of what I hear is complaining about life; griping about family, griping about work, griping about church, griping about the city, griping about the government, and on and on. It's draining and I don't realize how much that spirit affects me until I get away from it for a few days.
A friend of mine who spent 11 years in prison before his life altering encounter with God once shared with me that he met more honest people in prison than he has ever met in church. I believe every bit of that statement. Oftentimes I wonder when I am around church people and even fellow pastors, if I'm really hearing the truth or just a bunch of.....well......that stuff that makes crops grow.
Why is it this way? How come those of us who claim to follow Christ can't display a better attitude about life? Why do we put on such a facade when we are around each other that we don't really know one another and what's really going on in our lives?
It seems the world has us beat in attitude, joy, honesty, and I'm willing to bet they have us beat in forgiving too.
Instead of us informing the world, the world seems to be informing us. It shouldn't be that way.

What's Going On?

Over the past year, I have had two friends leave the ministry not for moral reasons, but just for the fact that it was taking a toll on them spiritually, physically, and in many other ways. Just in the previous week, I have heard about several others who have walked away from it within the past year too. Even the healthiest of churches seem to be having problems with many people on edge right now. On a weekly basis, I receive news of a different church being attacked by wolves/busybodies or whatever you want to call them.
I know this stuff has always taken place, but I'm hearing more of it now. Are things really heating up? What exactly is going on that's causing all of these things to take place? (And don't tell me that we are just living in the Last Days. We have been since Jesus left this world 2000 years ago and we could be here another 2000 or so years so that isn't a good enough answer).